SEPIA Intelligence Network
by PikachuGunner
Summary: A story about a computer AI network and its spread into the real world, and the world-changing events that happen as a result. CANCELLED: This story is being redone with a more original context, and will no longer be a 'fan fiction'. As such, it will not be updated on this site.
1. Chapter 1: Earth, Year 2110

[Journal File 01242110-000135]

The date is January 23, 2110. The world has changed greatly, but not in the way that most people would have imagined the future a hundred years ago. There's no hoverboards or flying cars, or faster than light spacecraft, or time-traveling DeLoreans. In fact, I doubt we have any normal DeLoreans left. What a shame, it's got a nice design. If they remade those, I'd buy one if I had the money.

Random tangent aside, computing is the field that made the most impact. Our computers really took off, especially about twenty years ago, when biologic technology started to get implemented. Long before that, computers were already a part of just about everything except human bodies. Turns out people don't like having computer parts inside of them. I think the government considered putting ID chips in everyone, but that got shot down really quickly. Besides, your cell phone or even your watch is just as easy to track if it's not modified.

The largest change really came about twenty-three years ago. In 2087, an old network called SEPIANET was declared to be some sort of other world. A world that's in everyone's computers and electronic devices. I know, sounds really crazy, right? From the stories out there, it was made around a hundred years ago, and now it's everywhere. It's scary, really, thinking there's artificial intelligences crawling around everywhere. Even in the real world, they have millions of androids, but you wouldn't know it by looking at them. You have to have special equipment to tell the difference. That should be creepy, but they've been around longer than I have, so it almost feels normal. I think they even have a seat in the United Nations. Might have to double check that one, though.

In fact, to at least a majority, it is normal. They're in every field of research and development out there. Yeah, there are religious groups that are protesting against them because they're destroying the sanctity of life or something like that, but most people are glad that a world-wrapping AI network is helping us and trying to live with us rather than going all 'Skynet' on us. You can even get punished for killing androids, but it's not really considered murder. You might be hit with hard destruction of property charges, but that seems to be about it.

There was also something a few years ago that really started freaking people out. Word leaked out about this lab, run by this network, that was doing something called 'bioneogenesis' experimentation. From what leaked out, it looked like the AIs were trying to make real, organic, human bodies that could harbor data. Now, that sounds freaky. A lot of people went pretty crazy about that, especially the religious organizations, talking about how they had no right to 'play God'. They've said that about science forever, but for once, I kind of agree with them. They're toying around with genetic material and making real bodies from scratch. For anyone that has any belief in a soul, that has huge implications. The last time we heard about that was seven years ago, though, so maybe that got shut down. Seven years is a long time as far as scientific experimentation goes.

Once in a while, a few of those AIs would get onto my computer. I'd interact with them once in a while, but they always creeped me out a little. How did I know they weren't getting private stuff off of my computer? Sure, I have logs, I have security, but they managed to get everywhere in the world. Who's to say they couldn't do what they wanted without notice? They tell me there's punishments for criminals there, too, but...well, I don't know whether I can believe them. We can explore their world through programs, if we're so inclined, but, that's not like the androids. They have a real presence here, we don't have one there. Even though their world is contained by ours. Gives me the shivers when I start thinking about it too much.

But, now that you know a little bit about the world, well, just who is talking to you about it? Well, I'm male, sixteen years old. Yeah, I sound kind of young for what I'm saying, but, well, I keep up with things that are going on. Though, my mom always gets after me for wasting time, since I'm on the computer all the time, either playing games or surfing the internet. I can't have a pet or anything, what does she expect me to do when I'm not out of the house? It's not like I don't have a few friends at school, even if I am a bit of a nerd, so it's not like I have no social interaction.

Oh, and yes, you heard everything right, I'm on the computer all the time, but creeped out about digital life forms. I really don't want to hear it.

I tend to get good grades at school, except for P.E. Someday, that won't matter too much, though, right? I mean, I'll probably get into a computing field, anyways. Of course, that would mean working with those androids, but, oh well. Heh, maybe someday, this'll end up being completely normal. You know, like all those other things that used to be big issues long ago. I guess we'll see one of these days.

Oh, yeah, and making this a private file. I don't know how much it matters. I wonder if someone's watching what data I make or something. Supposedly, no, but, I never really know. I have to sleep soon, though, so one last thing. I never really mentioned exactly who I am.

I'm Tanara Kuranov. My dad's American and my mom is Russian, and I was born in America. Hearing stories about what things used to be like in Russia, you get paranoid about the fact that someone, or something might be watching you. Russia's not quite so bad about that with their government any more, it seems like, but I'm still glad to be here in the US.

Great, they're yelling up the stairs. Why are they awake at midnight? Oh, well, I have school tomorrow, anyways. I actually like being out of the house for school, but not always what I have to do for school. Can't get into it now, though, or they'll start coming up the stairs, though, so logging off now.


	2. Chapter 2: Arden Voight

November 27, 2008. The room is filled with the clicking of keyboards and chatter. Talk of code, sci-fi books, and video games. Along with a light snore.

"Arden! Hey, Mr. Voight, wake up!"

"Mmnh, what? Oh...Brian. Hey. Ah, geez, I fell asleep again, didn't I?" A pale, black-haired, brown-eyed nineteen year old stirred from his sleep, extricating his face from his laptop keyboard. His hair was straight and thin, medium-length, and looked a bit oily, like it needed a little bit of washing. He was wearing jeans and a shirt with the Marathon logo on it, with the words "The Father of Halo" underneath it.

"Up late?" the other person asked. He was about the same age, brown-haired, blue-eyed, looking cleaner and more awake than Arden, typing away on his laptop, a newer model. His hair was even gelled up a bit. He was wearing gray jeans and a black t-shirt with an 8-bit Mario on the front of it.

What's up with all the nerdy shirts? The code and other such talk? Well, this is a computer science major room at MIT. Actually, we could just say it's a room with computer science majors in general. That would be enough of an explanation, right?

"Mmnh...yeah, got a bit caught up in my coding...last night." Arden muttered, still sounding a bit groggy.

"Well, obviously not for the project. It's due tomorrow, you know." Brian chuckled a little. "I'm almost done with it. Some of us have been working on our homework instead of messing around."

"Well, I was so close on something, though. I think I've got a way to make that algorithm work better. But, yeah, I should get on that project." Arden shook his head, trying to wake himself up more fully.

"Algorithm? What, for that chatbot? No matter how many times you rewrite your code for that, it's still a chatbot."

"Heh, we'll see about that. After I do this...project...thing..." Arden shook his head again, trying to get himself fully awake. "I'll get it done."

"You really should stop putting it off until the last minute. You're good with your code, but that'll catch up to you." Brian smirked a little. "Now, I need to finish up the last little bit on mine. I've got a date tonight."

Arden just nods a little, typing away on his computer. "So, when are you headed off for that? Four hours or so?"

"Um...close to that, yeah. Why?"

"You're so predictable with the time. Heheh, how about a bet, 20 bucks that I finish this before then?"

Brian laughed for a moment. "Oh, wow, really?" he peeked over at Arden's screen. "There's no way you can finish that in four hours."

"So, that's a bet?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Brian sat back down, typing away at his project.

The room, for a while, was pretty quiet, aside from the clicking of keyboards and mice, and occasional chatter.

Brian was soon swearing to himself after a couple of hours. "Dammit...how did I get so many errors?"

Arden laughed a little bit. "Maybe if you'd make driver programs to test your functions, you wouldn't have such a problem with that." he smirked a little, continuing to type away. "Maybe you shouldn't have said you're almost done when you haven't checked to see if it would even compile. Me, I am almost done now, though, with error free functions."

"How? How'd you write that much code in two hours?"

Arden laughed. "Maybe I didn't have to make as much code as you thought. Efficiency is nice that way."

Brian just groaned. "Ugh...dammit, got to fix all these stupid...grr..."

Arden chuckled softly. "Hope you don't have to cancel your date."

"Quiet, you...I'll get this..."

After a few more minutes, the sound of a palm smacking the desk suddenly went through the room, Arden chuckling. "I'm done."

This got a pause from Brian. "...you've got to be shitting me."

Arden faced his laptop towards Brian to show a working chess program. "There you go."

Brian groaned and clutched his head as Arden started packing up his power cord and mouse. "Heh, well, time for me to go working on my own stuff. Oh, yeah, and you owe me twenty bucks."

Brian chuckled. "It's not in writing."

Arden let out a hmm, clicking on his keyboard for a moment, playing a recording of earlier, when the bet was made, before putting his laptop to sleep and in his case. "I recorded it. So there's your proof. I know how you are, getting out of those bets, so I recorded it this time."

"Oh, come on!"

"Oh, by the way-"

"Ah, what now?"

Arden pointed at block of code on Brian's screen. "You forgot to close the stream on your 'read save game' function."

Brian just paused. "Oh...well, there's one error found..."

Arden turned around. "You're welcome. See you later, and good luck with that project." he said tauntingly, waving back behind him before he walked out of the room.

Arden Voight was a bit of a mixed bag. His was talented with computers, especially software, he'd been writing programs for years now, since he was a teenager. Though, this left him inside a lot of the time, so his social skill was lacking. He'd never gone on a date, didn't really even want to, it took too much time away, in his mind. He was too busy looking into his favorite field in his spare time, the field of artificial intelligence, he going out to the parking lot, getting into his old Geo Metro to drive home.

The bumper sticker on the back of this car read "I'd rather be coding". A computer-obsessed individual, indeed.


	3. Chapter 3: Tanara and Friends

The 24th, Friday. Friday was always a good day. School wasn't bad, though Tanara was glad to have the weekends off. Though, that morning, he was a bit tired. He'd say that he couldn't sleep, but he'd only get a response from his mother like "You being on the computer all night doesn't help!" So, he didn't really say anything about it. Oh, it might help to know what he looks like. He's a slim sixteen year old boy, with somewhat pale skin, medium length brown hair, and a slightly slim build, whose attire consisted of jeans and whatever plain colored or video game related shirts came out of his closet. Though, he died his hair white. Why? Who knows why people do half the things they do?

As he was going through his morning routine, he thought of the other fun part of the weekends. There was a real-time strategy game that had started becoming popular in the last few years, the Tactical Air, Ground, and Sea Combat Simulator, popularly called the TAGS Combat Simulator.

The people that played this would carry a handheld computer, and sometimes a stack of modifier cards. The game was called the TAGS Unit Modification Combat Simulator with the cards and the TAGS Fixed Unit Combat Simulator without the cards. Yes, there are already jokes about how the last one is abbreviated, before you even try it. Using two or more of these, people would battle on a projected battlefield, usually about the size of a typical table. The projection would show public information, the individual computers would show what just the player holding it would know. Resources, numbers of units, locations of that person's stealth units, things like that. An optional 'mediator' computer can be used by a third party, usually in tournaments, to prevent cheating and provide a bigger, more visceral projection, along with larger maps for bigger tournaments, enabling more players. Basically, the main projection was like a giant, interactive, projected war game table.

This was low powered for computers, though. Your average home computer could make a room-wide holographic projection and then some. Typically, they're still used with a desk-sized projection or a monitor, though. After all, you don't want everything you do projected across your room, now do you? Yeah, didn't think so. Tanara still used a monitor for a lot of things, himself. Nothing else recreates that LCD glow across the room at night.

After Tanara got on the bus, and sat in the back, he started thumbing through the modification cards on the pouch on his belt, making sure he had what he wanted. The cards came in when you modify the stats of the units, like making a unit faster but lowering defense, increasing attack in exchange for mobility, making certain units amphibious in exchange for slightly less speed and more mechanical complexity, meaning a bigger likelihood of breakdowns, and a lot more. That is to say, it's a bit complicated, but that was why Tanara liked it. But this wasn't a collectable card game, the handheld computer came with a set of 64 thin, blank cards with TAGS backing. You could set the effects of the cards with the computer before each battle, and each card could be used a set number of times in each battle, meant to reduce reliance on cards in the endgame. When you set the effects a title and description would show up on the front of the card, and would change if you changed the effect for a different battle. 'Electric Ink', that was called when it first came out, changeable cards or print. Some weren't allowed for certain battles, though. For example, some people have special rules like land-only battles, where cards like 'Amphibious' aren't allowed, or battles that didn't allow stealth units, and the like. He had his cards sorted by type of unit and effect so he wouldn't waste time fumbling for one.

"Hey, Tanara! I wouldn't bother going in that TAGS tournament! I've got a killer strategy that'll blow everyone out of the water!" an overconfident voice said. This voice came from a tall, skinny teenager with somewhat short light brown hair, spiked up a little, pale, but not as pale as Tanara, he about his age, sitting next to him on the bus. His attire was more varied, today it was a collared t-shirt and khakis.

Tanara chuckled lightly. "What about the sky?"

The boy laughed a bit. "Hah, good one. I've got that covered, too!"

"Walter, you know it's not a 'one size fits all' affair, right?"

The boy was Walter Reed. He was optimistic, to the point of being cocky and overconfident, but he was outgoing and rather charismatic, too, so he was good at making friends, even if he was a little competitive.

"Hahah, well, do you have a plan?"

"Of course, but your strategy has to be adaptive. You said you had a killer strategy, implying singular."

"Well, I do!"

"Heh, tell that to the previous regional champion."

Walter scoffed. "You weren't the champion!"

"No. I fought her last time, though. She's back this month from the state competition." Tanara chuckled a little. That was a close battle, Tanara had almost made it to the city tournament last month, but one of his bases got ambushed when it looked like he was winning, turning the tables.

"Oh...she's back?" Walter's voice faltered for a moment. "Hah, I can take her on!" he returned to his normal self quickly.

Tanara decided not to try and fire him up. It was rather easy to get him fired up. "Heh, we'll see."

"I won't go easy on you if we fight!"

"Didn't plan on it. Speaking of killer strategies, you have one for the math assignment due today?" Tanara snickered a little.

Walter looked like someone had just told him a tornado was headed his way, then clutching at his hair and tilting his head back. "Awwww, damn it! I forgot all about that!" he pulled out a different handheld computer, looking for his assignment. Just about everyone had a computer of some kind, whether it was handheld, or in some other casing, like a wrist-mounted computer or a pair of glasses.

Tanara smirked a little. "You know what a to-do list is?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate! Nnngh..." Walter groaned, shaking his head as the bus pulled up to the school. Everyone walked off the bus, and Walter started working on the assignment as he was walking.

"Well, I know what you're doing during recess."

"I said shut up!" Walter said loudly, putting emphasis on and talking slower on 'shut up'.

Tanara smirked a little bit as everyone started going off to their classes.

The day was rather uneventful until lunch, when Tanara, Walter, and several of their friends sat at one of the tables. "So, who else is going into the tournament?" Tanara asked. Walter was too busy trying to wing it on his math assignment to respond.

A slightly tan, brown eyed boy of about average, toned build, wearing a dark blue v-neck shirt with short brown hair that could barely be seen under his black baseball cap shook his head. "Nah. Too complicated for me. Might watch, though." This boy was Nikoli Tchlianov, born in the US to Russian parents. He had been friends with Tanara since grade school. He was more into sports than video games, though he hadn't found a sport he wanted to play yet.

Another boy, with medium length black hair, green eyes, and pale skin shrugged. He usually wore a shirt from one of the tech-oriented conventions he'd been to and a dark pair of jeans. "I suppose I can see how I do. Don't have much else going on today."

"You don't ever have much going on, Jerome. Do you have a...what's the word I'm looking for...hobby?" Nikoli said, having actually been trying to think of the right word. If it was Walter saying it, it would've been sarcastic. Nikoli's parents were still learning English, too, they usually speaking Russian. There were pretty accurate translation devices, but Nikoli didn't want to be dependent on one.

"Eh, I mess around with my computer, mostly." the boy said passively. This was Jerome Greene, the techie of the group. He was usually wearing a clear digital eyepiece. With the size and flexibility of pocket computers, they came in many forms. A digital eyepiece was usually clipped onto the ear, had an earpiece for audio, and a screen over one eye. Jerome's wrapped around the back of his head, no doubt so there was room for additional storage and computing power, along with support. The lens can shift anywhere from clear to fully tinted on the outside. There were also glasses with built-in computers and adjustable tint. They controlled with eye movement and either verbal commands or a projected keyboard. Verbal commands and dictation were almost perfectly accurate with anything resembling a clear voice. On Jerome's eyepiece, either computer code or a textbook was usually seen.

"Mess around?" Nikoli asked.

"You know, coding, surfing the web for information, seeing how systems work." Jerome replied, scrolling through a block of code with a motion of his finger on the table. Jerome was mostly friends with this group because they didn't mind that he had one eye on a screen a lot of the time. They'd tease him about it, though.

Tanara chuckled a little. "When people say they mess around with their computer, it's usually playing video games or randomly surfing the internet." he looked over at the last boy sitting at the table. He had short blonde hair and hazel colored eyes, he wearing a pair of prescription glasses with rectangular lenses, with no computer, a bit of an oddity any more. He was usually wearing a polo shirt and khaki or dark pants. "What about you, Timothy?"

The boy just shrugged. "I don't get it. It's just a game." he said. This was Timothy Freeman. He was what you might call a 'bookworm'. He was always reading something, usually in a traditional book format. Yes, basically every book was in digital format. Some people still like physical copies of what they own. He was reading a book titled 'A History of the Third World War'.

"I don't get why you're reading a book in paper format about a war from fifty years ago we don't have an assignment on." Walter said with a snicker.

"Finished with that math assignment?" Tanara asked Walter.

"Close enough, my brain hurts from doing it." Walter said.

"History repeats itself. It's good to know." Timothy said plainly.

"Dude, you need to lighten up once in a while." Tanara said with a little chuckle. Timothy just shrugged.

"What do you do for fun, then?" Jerome asked, still scrolling through text and code. He was still listening, apparently. Sometimes it was hard to tell.

"Read." he responded.

"Yes, pursuing knowledge. But, isn't it bulky, carrying books around?"

"Yes."

"Anything else you do?"

"Sometimes."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really."

"You have very concise answers, don't you?"

"Yes." Timothy said, continuing to read his book. He was always very straightforward and blunt with his answers, too.

"Heh, and you guys think I'm bad."

Nikoli chuckled. "You stare at your screen all the time."

Jerome started typing on a projected Dvorak keyboard that had just appeared. "Yes, there's so much to do. So much to find out. It's fascinating. I suppose I find that fun, myself." Timothy just stayed silent. Jerome actually got along the best with Timothy, but still got short responses from him. Timothy was mostly with this group because Jerome had introduced him, otherwise he'd probably still be reading alone in the corner of the cafeteria. Besides, with Nikoli in the group, nobody really tried to bully him, and that was a plus for someone like him, too.

Suddenly, Walter tapped the table lightly. "Hey, look over there." he said quietly, glancing over at a corner table. There was a girl over there, by herself, flipping around a TAGS card in her hand, swiping it through her wrist-mounted computer. She had short brown hair and brown eyes, with a slim, toned figure. She was wearing jeans and a simple t-shirt, along with a loose, dark jacket. "Is that-?"

Jerome cut in. "Nikita Rivers, Denver Region 17 TAGS UM and Fixed Unit champion for ten months straight, currently setting card effects for the upcoming tournament, in the cafeteria because she didn't bring her own lunch today?"

Walter gave Jerome a strange look. "How can you be so observant and yet so spaced out?"

Jerome chuckled a little. "I pay attention to more than you think."

"Yeah, but that's just creepy. I didn't even see you look at her."

Jerome shrugged. "I saw her when we walked in."

Walter shook his head. "It's weird, though. She's almost never in here, and when she is, she never talks to anyone. She'll just give you this-"

"Piercing stare, no matter what you do?" Jerome cut in again.

"Gahhhh, stop finishing my sentences!"

"Can't help it if you say the same things over and over."

"You know, you're the only one of us she's ever said anything to. Does she like nerds or something?"

Jerome didn't really mind being called a nerd, in fact, he usually took it as a compliment. "She simply wanted my view on computer intelligence relations, as a programmer."

"Why?"

Jerome just shrugged. "I don't know." The 'conversation' from a few days back had consisted of her asking what he thought of AIs, his response, then a short 'hmm' from her before she walked away.

Tanara looked at Jerome. "So, what is your view? Honestly, they creep me out a little."

"Hmm? Why is that?" Jerome asked curiously.

"They get on my computer once in a while and start trying to talk. I always wonder if they're watching what I'm doing."

Jerome snickered, talking even as he was typing up more code. "They shouldn't have any more access than a guest, maybe you need to check your settings."

"Well, we can't just interact with them like that."

"Sure you can, just use the interaction system in your computer. They all have it."

"Yeah, but-"

"Their world happens to be digital. They have their own server clusters, like cities, that they, as a community, maintain. They won't try to get into your computer if you don't want them to. Unless it's malicious."

"Er-"

"Just like us, there are those that aren't the best of people."

"So you would say-"

"That they're like living beings?"

"Er...yeah."

"Yes."

Tanara paused a moment. "Walter's right, your whole-"

"Finishing sentences thing is creepy?"

"Stop doing that!" Walter yelled.

"Yeah, it's really strange." Nikoli said in agreement. Jerome simply shrugged.

Nikita looked up from her table, straight at them, with a sharp gaze, and then stood up and left. Then the bell rang.

"Well, sounds like it's time for us to get back to class." Jerome said.

Everybody nodded in agreement, quickly scattering. "Well, see you later!" Walter said.

"Yeah, very soon." said Tanara.

Jerome chuckled. "After school, yes." He started scrolling through his code and typing again, even as he walked.

Nikoli nodded, and Timothy only let out a little 'mmm' and kept reading as he got up, they all walking to their classes for the second half of the day.


End file.
